The Vercelli Book is one of the oldest surviving collections of Old English homilies and poems, compiled in England in the tenth century. Preaching the Converted provides a sustained literary analysis of the book's prose homilies and demonstrates that they employ rhetorical techniques commonly associated with vernacular verse. The study argues that the dazzling textual complexity of these homilies rivals the most accomplished examples of Old English poetry.
Highlighting the use of word play, verbal and structural repetition, elaborate catalogues, and figurative language, Samantha Zacher's study of the Vercelli Book fills a gap in the history of English preaching by foregrounding the significance of these prose homilies as an intermediary form. Also analyzing the Latin and vernacular sources behind the Vercelli texts to reveal the theological and formal interests informing the collection as a whole, Preaching the Converted is a rigorous examination of Old English homiletic rhetoric and poetics.
- ISBN10 1442688858
- ISBN13 9781442688858
- Publish Date 16 May 2009
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint University of Toronto Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 320
- Language English
- URL http://degruyter.com/search?f_0=isbnissn&q_0=9781442688858&searchTitles=true